Wednesday
started out with me getting up and playing on Facebook before my
ferry to Tanger. By then, I had forgotten about the whole wind thing
(a sign that my travel anxiety was pretty much gone). Well, 10 a.m.
rolled
around and I headed over to the FRS terminal to meet my tour guide
and wear my little 'FRS' sticker (*shudders*). After taking the five
minute stroll, I arrived at the terminal only to have the person at
the gate and the ticket window SUGGEST that I get a refund due to
weather. I've rarely had a company refund me for a tourist related
ticket (FRS said the ticket was nonrefundable previously) so you can
understand my shock. The wind had been pretty strong that morning,
which probably meant it was hell out in the strait.

The
ferry was there, so what was the deal? The problem was I could go
out on the ferry and tour, but I might not make it back because they
were canceling
ferries likely later in the day when the winds picked up. Now, if I
had a very open itinerary or several days to spend in Morocco like
one of the girls back at the hostel, this posed no problem, as the
morning ferry was still there. However, I had already spent more
time in Tarifa than I cared to and I was really looking forward to
Sevilla, so the idea of getting stuck in Tanger for a day (or more)
didn't really appeal to my schedule.

After
a quick runaround back and forth between the ticket office and
terminal, I got my refund (in cash amazingly) and quickly made my way
back to the hostel. The host told me that winds were only going to
get worse over the next several days, so that made me feel better
about my call. I speed walked to the bus station (about 5-10 minutes
away) and had my Sevilla ticket changed to the next bus that day,
which was in about an hour. Back to the hostel (I'm getting tired
again just writing about all this back-and-forth lol),
I added a day to my hostel in Sevilla and canceled
Tarifa (no refund this late of course), got directions for the new
hostel and went to my room to pack my bags.

The
Dutch guys were just heading
out for kite surfing, so we said our goodbyes as I quickly packed up
and left. If there's one thing I love about backpacking, even for a
planner like myself, it's the ability to make a quick switch, pack up
in 15 minutes and be gone to the next big thing...it's very
exhilarating. Shuffling out the door, Gustavo let me know he'd be in
Sevilla on the 5 p.m. Bus, so if we had a chance to meet, we'd hang
out for tapas and touring. I walked casually
to the bus station this time, as I had my backpack
to lug. Man, thank God I downloaded a Bond movie the night before on
my laptop (the one that features Gibraltar), so I had that ready to
roll on the bus.

Dropping
my bags and plopping into a seat at the bus stop with a Coke, I took
a breather just to take in all that had changed in all of about a
half hour. Frankly, I was surprised I wasn't more upset and down on
not going to Tanger (I know I can get that way sometimes). I thought
about it and here's what I came up with to validate my decision
(which I'm forever doing):

I
trust peoples' advice first and my guidebooks second. In this case,
both said the tour I had booked
for Tanger sucked.

Leo
and countless others made the rest of Morocco (Casablanca,
Marrakesh,
etc...) sound so much more interesting, so I figure a trip to
Morocco (or northern Africa) is warranted.

“You
can always come back”, a great Rick Steves mantra

Even
if I went, my anxiety about the wind would just spoil it

I
had already missed out on having a good guide

After
the whole ER experience, I wasn't looking for another trip-jostling
event

In
the end, I consider what I did smart, not just safe...I mean, I like
to think I take some risks (i.e. solo travel), but in this case,
there was the potential for several days of my trip lost
(pretty much Sevilla gone)
and a possible plane ticket in my future if the ferries were down
through the weekend. Probably not the case, but still even a day
would've been a bummer.

Okay,
that's enough of that. Another smooth bus ride and I arrived in
beautiful Sevilla at 4 p.m., enjoying the warmth and sunlight while
also starving. I ended up at a restaurant where my fumbled Spanish
earned me not one, but two “raciones” (larger portions) plus the
wine I had intended to order. I couldn't be rude, plus I was hungry,
so I just ate both lol.

My
new hostel was probably the nicest hostel I've ever stayed
in...that's probably why they named it a 'boutique' hostel. I mean,
it has a full dining room (with a host serving crepes and waffles in
the morning!), a fitness center, really nice beds and everything
brand-new. Keeping along my philosophy for the trip of small,
non-party hostels (more on that in a future post), I found this one a
little unusual. It had way more older people and families (with
kids) that I'm used to, probably due to the large number of 2 person
rooms. Most of the other people were quiet or nonexistent (it is
middle of off-season). Rather than switch hostels (this one was ONLY
€10/night!)
I decided to stick with it and get out and tour to meet people.
After all, I had the extra time now.

Out
I went, going on an evening “paseo” (stroll) to see what Sevilla
was all about. I wandered Plaza Nueva, around the cathedral, and
into the winding Santa Cruz district, which I heard had an ample
supply of gift shops. No gems, I admit, but I did poke around here
and there. I'm going lighter on the souvenirs this time, since
getting one thing from each city usually just earns me a bunch of
junk lol. No finds in Santa Cruz (damn!) but maybe back in Barcelona
before I leave. I went back to Plaza Nueva to shop the many stores
in the area, as it was now evening and people were out and about. I
was looking for a new coat (mine's getting a bit raggity) as well as
a scarf, which I so desperately needed this whole trip but never
found one warm enough (frankly, I didn't look that much lol). Why
look in Europe? I had luck when I needed a jacket last time in
Berlin, so
I
figured since European clothes are pretty stylish and seem to fit me
well, why not? Turns out, I didn't have luck in Sevilla, but I added
that to another of my Barcelona to-do items.

Back
at the hostel, I met Mane (Mah-nay) who led the tour to the flamenco
show. We ended up only having five people total at the show, so it
turned into our own personal little show. It was a lot of fun,
though I wasn't always sure where to clap or “Ole!” lol. I also
met Pieterjan (he says just call him “Peter-John” to make it
easier) who was from Belgium. We went out after, along with Paula,
the other guide, for tapas and then some drinks. Overall, it was
probably as exciting as we could make Wednesday during off-season. I
got back late, of course waking up everyone in my room (I hate being
that guy), even though it was only 1:30 a.m.

Thursday
arrived and I must say, it was indeed a very different Thanksgiving
:-) Throughout the night, I had played the noisy roommate in my
hostel, banging the toilet shut (the thing was apparently really
loose) and dropping my eBook off my bed while sleeping (oops). It
happens. In the morning, I met my Taiwanese roomie over breakfast.
I grabbed food before the guy could make me a waffle, but I figured I
get one the next morning. She, along with my other roommate, were
just leaving, so we only had a few quick words before we parted ways.

I
made my way over to the cathedral at 11 a.m. to
catch the tour that was being led by Mane. Pieterjan showed up,
along
two German girls, Jay (aka Jono) from Australia and Aleah from
friggin' Oregon (Eugene to be exact). Together, we toured
the city (Plaza
de
España,
simply AMAZING by the way, don't know why the guidebook was down on
it...it's
also planet Naboo for all you Star Wars fans),
ending up in a nice park two hours later. Me, Pieterjan, Jay and
Aleah walked over to a tapas place for lunch that Mane recommended
(the dates were awesome!) and then we headed to the cathedral to tour
around the inside.

Afterwards,
the four of us agreed to meet up at 8 p.m. to do our own tapas tour
and bar crawl for dinner. Instead of going directly to the hostel
for a siesta, I did a quick tour of the bullring, which was pretty
cool. The tour itself wasn't much (and mostly in Spanish, which I
luckily could follow), but it was worth getting a picture of the
inside. By now, it was beginning to rain and I was beat, so I made
my way back to the hostel, made my Thanksgiving phone call to the
family and then passed out for a little bit.

Before
going out on our crawl, I began to reconsider staying another day in
Sevilla. I really didn't have much left to do other than perhaps the
Alcázar,
and I already had been to Granada. Of course, I couldn't refund my
Ryanair flight, but I was already not looking forward to getting up
at 3-4 a.m. To be hassled by them for something I didn't pay for,
plus it was only €44
(€10
of which was the actual fare). I also had two train tickets on my
pass still after the ER thing, and I love trains.

So
I made the switch to go to Barcelona a day early in hopes of some
sun, the second such change in the last
few
days. I must say, I was getting pretty good and this switcheroo
thing. I booked a new hotel (not hostel for my last leg) in
Barcelona, got the train ticket and printed it, canceled
my Sevilla hostel and got directions in Barcelona. The unfortunate
side-affect
was that my previous hotel in Barcelona was nonrefundable (I chose
one closer to downtown than the airport, as it had
better
transit options),
but I figure I can fight that by refusing payment.

With
all that settled, I was late for our tapas tour. Luckily, Aleah and
Jay had gotten a hold of me on Facebook a half hour earlier, and we
had all agreed to meet for the 8:30 p.m. tapas
tour put on by Mane's group. I realized that Pieterjan hadn't chimed
in, and asked the other two to see if they could find them in their
hostel or at our previous meeting spot by the cathedral.
Unfortunately, I arrived at the tour meeting spot and Pieterjan
wasn't there (so sorry man!), so Mane and I went looking for him with
no luck. By then, it was 30 minutes after we were supposed to meet
for our original tour. No hard feelings, I hope.

Our
group consisted of me, Jay, Aleah, the German girls and a group on
others from the other hostels. We toured three tapas places, getting
lots of different tapas to try courtesy
of Eddie, our host, along with a ton of sangria. A
very nice Thanksgiving indeed. I
was beginning to wonder if changing to Barcelona was a good idea, as
I might not be back too early. Fortunately, I was able to cut out
between the end of the tapas tour and beginning
of the pub tour (I guess Eddie had a fight with another host and left
us hanging, so we were all confused). The remaining group was going
to try and find a disco-tech,
but I decided to be lame and turn around ta 1 a.m. to
get a little
sleep
before my morning train. I know, I should've stayed out, but I think
that whole ER thing still has a me a little subdued, not to mention
that I tend to only
party here and there.

Asleep
at 1 a.m. after
meeting my Brazilian
roomies brings
me up to
being
on the train to Barcelona this morning. Aaaaaaaand...we're
like an hour and a half away! More updates from Barcelona, including
a little summary of likes/dislikes, etc will be coming your way in
the next couple of days.

I
leave you be while I try again for Casa Mila and perhaps the Museo
Nacional d'Art de Catalunya,
along with some last-minute shopping.
I loved Barcelona, and I'm looking forward to spending a bit more
time there. And of course, I come home in a few days! This has been
an interesting trip, but I'm reaching the point where I'm ready to
take a vacation from vacation and come home and relax for a bit.

With
that, I bid you “adeu” (in the Catalan style of Barcelona).

-
Mateo

P.S. The joke in the title comes from the fact that Sevillians choose not to pronounce the 's' in words (saying "gracia" instead of "gracias" for thank you), so it's just my tip of the hat to them :-)

Hey
there, readers! Guess what? Another long train (this time 5 hours)
means more time that I can spend hanging out with you, yay!

Last
you heard (unless you've been watching Facebook), I just
coming into Tarifa
via bus. That morning was the usual quick pack-and-go with me
shipping out of the hostel around 7 a.m. and
catching the city bus to the main
bus
station. MAN, that thing was packed early in the morning! Doesn't
help that I have a nice 30 pound weight swinging around my back lol.
Getting to the bus station, I grabbed a quick breakfast (my staple
has now become an OJ and croissant), deciphered the bus schedule and
boarded around 10 a.m.

I
must say, Alsa knows how to treat their customers. The “Supra”
bus I was on was more like a first-class bus, better than any train
or plane I've been on so far. It had WiFi, individual TVs and even a
goodie bag with snacks! Now, the Moroccan lady next to me insisted
that “ventana” doesn't mean window, so I didn't get my seat, but
whatever. I was perfectly content watching Slumdog
Millionaire
while cruising towards the Mediterranean coast. After a pit stop in
Malaga (and a dash to the bathroom by yours truly to make sure I
didn't get left behind), the second driver forgot to turn the TVs
back on, which was a bit of a bummer, but I chose to read and stare
at the coast. This was my first view of the Mediterranean and I must
say it's absolutely beautiful, especially with the rolling hills in
southern Spain.

Getting
to Algeciras, I had
to figure out how to transfer to the regional Comes bus to Tarifa.
Before I knew it, I walked to the bus next to ours, threw my bag
underneath and paid my 1-2 Euros. MAN, talk about a quick transfer
lol. Forty-five minutes later and I was in Tarifa. Overall, I've
been very impressed by the Spanish bus system. I had my doubts about
getting around the second half of my trip that way, but I gotta
admit, the buses are very nice and clean and there's always a spot
(at least during off-season). The ones to/from Algeciras and Tarifa
are basically nice charter buses that work like a city bus, where you
pay on board or swipe a card. Other ones require you to purchase a
ticket at the counter. Either way, I was very happy indeed.

Ah
Tarifa, a town I would deem “The Pismo Beach of Spain” for all
you Cal Poly peeps out there. It's got the total relaxed surfer town
thing going for it, which makes sense. This town, which also happens
to be the southern-most town in continental Europe, hosts an
onslaught of international tourists during the busy season for
surfing and especially kite surfing. The beach is also very
pristine, getting much less attention than the rest of the
overdeveloped southern coast of Spain. Of course, when it's winter,
the place is a bit of a ghost town. Even so, after Granada, it was
my second easy-going vacation spot, so no complaints, other than it
tended to get a tad quiet in the evenings.

I
found my hostel, which happens to be right by the coast and the ferry
to Tanger. The place was deserted, as most hostels are during the
day and especially during the weekdays in off-season. I seemed to
have 3 other roomies at least, so that was a good sign. Out in
Tarifa, I walked along the southern coast where you can literally SEE
the coast of Africa. So cool! I also cruised around the terminal
and to the beach where I finally enjoyed
a little sun in the warmer weather (I define warm as not
needing
two coats lol).

Other
than that, wandering the town proved there wasn't much else left to
do. I went back to the hostel and lounged on the rooftop terrace,
watching the sunset and the ships going in and out of the straits
while I read. I also began planning both of my daytrips, Gibraltar
and Tanger, which I'd be doing over the next two days. A little
blogging and then I was off to find dinner. Tarifa, being an
internationally recognized
surf/wind spot, has a matching set of international eateries. That
allowed me to take a brief repose from tapas and eat some sushi! I
was very satisfied, even if the rolls were small, as all the fish was
very fresh.

Touring
the bar area, I didn't find too many people (including
Gustavo and Adam, whom I met briefly at the hostel in the evening),
so back to the hostel to blog, write, make phone calls and call it
early. It's amazing, I've actually been getting a decent amount of
sleep on this trip. Maybe I'm doing this wrong (aka I should be
partying until 5 a.m. Everyday), but honestly, I'm not going to
complain when I'm awake during the day and can remember the amazing
sites that I've seen.

Speaking
of amazing sites, I woke up early the next morning to head off to
Gibraltar. That was by far one of my favorite sites so far on this
trip. The main trick with Gibraltar turned out to be getting the
buses right. In order to get there from Tarifa, I had to take two
buses from Tarifa to Algeciras and finally to La
Línea de la Concepción.
That's the Spanish town right on the border (Spaniards still are a
little sore about Gibraltar, so they don't like to mention it). The
buses were okay as usual, through the La Línea
bus made a TON of local stops; next time, I would remember to grab a
“directo” bus. The border itself? Sheesh. You literally walk
through a terminal and flash your passport! I was hoping for at
least a stamp to add to my collection lol. Once you're
in, it's either another bus ride or a 30 minute walk. With the
daytrip I had planned, I chose the bus. When backpacking and walking
everywhere, you need to pick your battles wisely lol.

Landing
at Casemates
Square,
I tried feeding not one but two map machines Euros and got snubbed!
It happens...at least I didn't pay one pound instead, since that
would be a worse exchange rate (Gibraltar accepts both, though
usually Euros are accepted with a 30% markup). I wandered main
street towards the cable car, grabbing some British pounds and
checking out all the shops along the way. I guess there's a cheap
duty on certain goods in Gibraltar, since all I saw was cigarettes,
electronics and watches in every shop. The first cigarette stop
after the border was absolutely MOBBED with people. Anywho, without
a map, I used the cable car wires as a guide through town (which
isn't
very big) and finally found the spot where I paid and rode to the top
of “The Rock”.

For
my little adventure, I chose the cheaper option of riding to the top
and hiking (walking down the streets) back to the bottom. I decided
to pay for the five or so attractions along the way as well, since it
seemed worth seeing at least a few of them. Arriving at the top, I
grabbed a coffee from the little shop and took a TON of pictures. I
then began hiking down to visit the sites, first heading for St.
Michael's Cave. Along the way, I ran into monkeys everywhere...I
mean, they literally took over the street to the point of me
having to scoot
around them. It was fun to watch them play and inundate the taxi
tours that drove by. One even jumped on a lady's shoulders with help
from a guide lol. The apes were by far the best attraction as you
were able to get close up (just don't try to feed them or show them
any plastic bags).

Everything
else along the way down? I'd say if you want to spend a little time,
check out St. Michael's Cave and maybe the Siege Tunnels if you're
a history/military buff. The other big sites (Ape's Den, City Under
Siege exhibit and Moorish palace) were all totally not worth it. The
monkeys you get to see just by walking along the top; there weren't
really any by the Ape's den, which is also where you stop if you take
the cable car back down. Of course, navigating down the tiny, twisty
roads was an experience in itself. Add in the people driving super
fast and the loads of taxis and tour buses careening around the
corners, and you have yourself a grand old time hiking down haha.

Back
at the bottom, I wandered back through main street, a little slower
this time to look for any souvenirs.
Of course, the American dollar is TERRIBLE vs. the British pound
(like 2 to 1), so any “deals” I saw in those shops didn't look so
good to me. Of course I had to stop for some fish 'n' chips as well!
Now, I was a little mystified why I got cold beer, but that's okay
I'll take it. I sound like an anti-ugly American lol. Afterwards,
my feet were feeling pretty good, so I took the walking tour back to
the border, admiring the runway that you literally walk/drive across
to get there. Too bad no planes were flying in that day, that
would've been so cool!

Finding
my bus, I made it to Algeciras with no problems only to find that
this time there wasn't just a bus waiting for me to Tarifa. I had
become spoiled lol. Instead, I had like an hour and half wait (!)
between Tarifa buses. It's kind of strange, since they run
regularly, but the schedule has these random gaps (and I happened to
find one lol). In the time I had, I decided to hang and finish my
current book since Algeciras isn't really much more than
an industrial port.
When I did finally make it back to Tarifa, I checked out the San
Mateo church briefly, the one major site I missed, and then proceeded
back to the hostel, where I happened to run into Gustavo, Adam, and
three vegetarian girls (named such because I forgot names) who were
from Utah, Vancouver B.C. and Australia.

We
all began to talk about Morocco and heading over there, since the 35
minute ferry is the main reason people come to Tarifa. It's the only
direct ferry to the main town port in Tanger (the Algeciras one takes
you to a port about 30 minutes away from the Tanger town center).
This whole trip, I've been hearing how awesome Morocco is (from Leo
and others), so I was looking forward to my little daytrip the
following day. Unfortunately,
my personal
guide has been a bit flakey since finding him...or may it's just the
Moroccan way. Either way, I hadn't heard anything from him since
booking back in the States, so I emailed him again and
in the meantime I booked one of the cookie cutter tours the ferry
company puts on. Anxiety got the best of me for a moment lol. The
guide, Aziz, actually did get back to me saying we were still on, but
then a follow-up saying we could meet once I figure out how to get
out of the tour yielded nothing. I'm guessing either he thought I
was blowing him off or he was just being Aziz.

Either
way, over dinner I heard more from Adam and others how great going
deeper into Morocco is and how the tours are so awful (which Rick
Steves agrees with, though 90% of
people
traveling
there do
them). The problem is that the tours are made in such away that
you're thrown into high-pressure buying situations with crappy
souvenirs. You get guides in Tanger mainly to 1) keep the hawkers
away and 2) to see the sights lol. But the tour companies get a cut
from the vendors they walk you buy, which is why the tour with ferry
is actually cheaper than a roundtrip ferry ticket. Such a scam. By
this point, I was feeling a little down and out about buying a ticket
(which was also non-refundable), but I kept telling myself I just
want to see a quick glimpse of Morocco and Muslim culture, no matter
how bad the tour is. I mean, you can't glitz over all that, right?

Out
I went for dinner, grabbing a salad to try and balance out all this
bread and meat in the Spanish diet. I came back to hang with the
hostel cat, who took over my keyboard as cats do, while I researched
and read a little bit. At this point, my Dutch roomies (who I met
the night before) were back from their kite surfing lessons, so we
talked with Adam about random travels. At this point, Adam told me
that with how windy it was today, the ferries might cancel during my
daytrip. Oh no! Well, all you can do is wait and see, right? The
girls whom I met earlier weren't
worried, since they were all going to Morocco for days or weeks.
Then you have me, who's on a tight schedule and only has a day here
and there.

In
the end, I decided to just sleep on it (Tarifa was still dead) and
see what the next day brought. Stay tuned for word on Tanger and
Sevilla...I'm going on a reading break :-)

Passed the one week mark already!? My goodness. Better get started on this blog of my favorite city so far, Granada! As you saw by the 3 blogs I churned out in one day, I had a boring 4 hour train ride down to Granada. Lots of reading, blogging and staring lol. I arrived to construction at the train station and no signs for the bus I needed; nice. Luckily, me and another backpacker started wandering and found the stations and it was all good. Freddie, who runs my hostel, was EXTREMELY nice (as most hostel hosts are), showing me on the map all the best spots to sightsee and eat tapas. The place only held 20 people, and there's just one 6-person backpacker room; the rest are for couples. That's a bit of a switch, but a mellow hostel is cool with me; after the ER scare, I'm not planning on partying all night anytime soon. Speaking of tapas, I took Freddie's suggestion and had lunch consisting of a beer and free tapa (they're big on that in Granada AND you can choose). The best part, I did the whole thing in Spanish; I was very proud, especially in a local lunch place by the university. Afterwards, out I went with the afternoon ahead of me. I explored the outside of the cathedral and grabbed my Alhambra ticket. Following the river, I wandered up the hills of the Albayzín stopping at all the view points on the map. That included San Miguel, which is way the heck up there, but has the best view of the city. I may have wandered into some of the gypsy caves instead of the main tourist path, but it was all good. The view was simply stunning. Back I strolled to the hostel, sitting down to post all those blogs, noticing that everyone around me was a couple. Usually, couple travelers keep to themselves, and it seemed to hold true here too. Fortunately, Kate and Catherine? (sorry, so many names in traveling) came in. They're study-abroad students from Madrid; Kate is originally from Minneapolis while Catherine is from...wait for it...Grosse Pointe! You have got to be kidding me, how many Michigan people am I going to meet in Spain? Amazing. We gabbed about GP for a while, then after getting ready I went with them and Kiko, one of our hosts, to grab dinner and then possibly make it to the Arab Baths. Unfortunately, the baths didn't have any appointments (and I totally brought my swimsuit!) so Kiko and I split off from the girls after dinner, heading back towards the town center. I asked Kiko to recommend another tapas place (since I only had one with my drink), so he showed me and then headed to the hostel.Getting back, stuff got done for once. I mean, this whole trip, I've felt I'm just steamrolling over all my plans and setting things up, which is fine, but it's a bit seam-of-the-pants. Granada is the first city where I've been able to relax, even though I lost a day there. I made phone calls, called the insurance about the whole ER thing, read up on buses and messed a lot with Facebook. Taking an easy night and thinking I'd see the college drinking seen the next day, I went to bed a little early. Turns out, in addition to the two girls, our room was pretty much full, including Tom, who was biking from England to Morocco. He was hanging out with Natalie from Canada, who was in a separate room. Then there was also another Polish girl, who's name I cannot remember (sorry!)...MAN, she was a talker, but it's always good to meet a fellow Pole.Anywho, the next morning I got up at 9 a.m. to plan and was out after a quick breakfast at 10 a.m. for the Alhambra. I walked up the other giant hill in Grenada and entered the Moorish palace through the shortcut Justice Gate, since I already had my ticket. Even though my time for the visit was 11:00 a.m., you're allowed to visit all the other sites before 2 p.m., which is cool. As for the Alhambra itself...just WOW. This is simply THE site to see in Spain and has made Granada my #1 city so far. First up, I wandered the Alcazaba and Charles V Palace before waiting for my time to enter the Palacios Nazaries. And man, once I got in there...just SO many pictures lol. Major picture overload on Facebook, I know. The tile work is simply amazing; it's like Park Guell all over again, only on a much larger scale. Luckily, the mob was held off by the fact that it was morning, it was cold and it was off-season, of which I was thankful. The entire site, despite the knots of people, was very serene and peaceful, with birds chirping all over. After the main palace, I hit the Generalife Gardens, which I personally thought were just as worth it simply for the colorful photos. That and the AMAZING views. I guess that crisp 0...err 32 degree weather made for good photos, huh? Finally, I wandered back out after 3 hours, a long time at one site for me. I will remember that place forever, that and now I have several GBs of pics to remind me lol. Back in town, I watched a band of women drummers perform before heading down to find lunch. I went to a tapas place that looked good the previous day, ordering the plato del dia (plate of the day). I was hoping for a raciones size item rather than a tapa, which is what I figured I was getting based on the other menu items (and the price). Instead, I got some chicken and egg soup, which was good don't get me wrong, but not worth €8. I actually waited much longer than normal to ask for the check because I thought I had another course coming...oops. Next time, I'll either ask what the plato del dia is for the day or just order something else. Instead of asking for more, I got a free tapa with a drink at another restaurant haha. I can see where this can get you in trouble. Back at the hostel, I met Rob, who was originally from Kalamazoo (What the heck is with all the MI people?) and now lives in SF. I only stayed around for a little bit before heading over to look for shopping. I first went to Alcaiceria to wander and shop for souvenirs. Evidently, everything is as cheap as my guide book says, so no winning trinkets there. I don't know, after forcing myself to buy something from each city I visited last time and ending up with crap, this time I am only going for things that are of value to me. Needless to say, I didn't find much. Elsewhere, everything was shut down for Sunday, so I couldn't get any of the items I needed, like a thick scarf and gloves lol. It's cold here! Instead, I came back to the hostel and fixed photos, played with my computer a bit, chatted with folks and relaxed. I must say, for the first time all trip, I finally was feeling relaxed. It usually takes me a week to fight through all the travel anxiety, based on my last Eurotrip. So yea, just a nice quiet couple of hours. That, and it was just cold lol Natalie invited me, Tom and Rob out for flamenco, and since my second attempt to book the Arab baths failed, we went out that night for dinner and the show. We split tapas and a bottle of wine downtown and then hit up a little flamenco place next to the river that our hostel recommended. The dance area was literally in a basement bunker-style area, like a little cave. It made the experience feel much more authentic than those massive tourist operations. We clapped and shouted along while drinking sangria; overall, I felt very Spanish haha. When all was said and done, we braved the cold once more to head to the hostel. Tom and me were the only ones left in our room, so we crashed early. Now, I'm in Tarifa after a whole day of buses. More on that, along with Gibraltar and Tangier, to come! ¡Buenas noches! - Mateo

Third
post of the day, here we go! I think we're almost to Granada now
lol. Okay, so Friday came and I felt much better, so I woke Leo at
10 a.m. when
I wobbled out of bed. We
were cleaned up and headed out for the Metro to the bus station by
11:00 a.m. as
we planned. I figured since Toledo was only a 45-minute
bus ride away and I was feeling better, it was “kind of” like
staying put in Madrid.

By
the way, although the train is faster (only 15 minutes),
at €5
and less crowding, the buses are the way to go. This was also a good
intro for me on the buses in Spain, as I'll be using them a lot in
the next few days. Anywho, we arrived at 12:30 p.m., grabbed a map
and walked up into the city center. EVERYWHERE you look, tourists
and buses, my God! I guess Rick Steves wasn't kidding when he said
that Toledo is mobbed with tourists during the day and more fun at
night. Well, I only had a day now, plus the cold weather kept the
city still fairly quiet.

Sarah
had reached Toledo the night before, but unfortunately the lack of
free Wi-Fi made it too hard to meet. Have fun in Sevilla Sarah, I'm
sorry we missed each other, you were such a great buddy to have on
this trip! Leo and I wandered from one side of Toledo to the other
(not hard to do), stopping at the Cathedral, one of the synagogues
and several other sites along the way. We made a point of checking
out the jewelry
shops, which are known for their thread-woven silver and gold that is
pounded into earrings
and necklaces by
hand.
So many cool pieces, especially from the one shop owner who barely
spoke English and whom we debated various pieces and styles with;
always a treat to hang with a local!

As
we headed back, I realized that my minor aches and tinges were not
really going down. That, along with the fever overnight made me
suspect a possible minor infection still
from the previous day.
Now, I didn't want to go back to ER just to get meds (which the doc
said I could do) and everybody was wondering why they didn't just
given them to me, so I took matters into my own hands. I walked into
a pharmacy in Toledo
and explained as best I could with my ER papers that I might have an
infection and needed some “antibióticos”.
Luckily, the pharmacist had Amoxicillin
and was willing to give me an 8-day supply for €2.50
so I jumped
at
it. Better safe than sorry, right?

We
skipped the Santa Cruz and Military Museum, which I originally wanted
to see, but oh well. I'll be back. We took the 6:30 p.m. bus
back to Madrid, Leo nodding
off
from being dead tired. After getting back to Madrid, I grabbed my
bags from the hostel and headed to my hotel.

I
admit, the hotel was a nice mid-trip treat, even for such a short
time. It makes me wonder how long I'll be doing the noise/discomfort
of the hostels, but we'll see. I repacked all my bags, called the
parents to check in, planned the trip to Granada and settled a bunch
of my itinerary snafus. After 10 p.m., Leo and I met up to head tothe
Mercado
de San
Miguel
once
more (honestly, it's the
best price and the only busy place) to grab
more tapas. Feeling great, I decided to toss my eating restrictions
and try a variety of tapas I hadn't had yet, including more sangria
from me
and Sarah's
guy; the stuff's great, man! He even added some extra port
for my €1
tip (the first I've given) lol.

I
parted ways with Leo where we met, wishing him well. Maybe we'll see
each other in Morocco, man! I lounged at the hotel, working on
pictures and emails before crashing for my morning train.

Which
brings me to now...whew! That said, my 48 hours were up this morning
and I'm feeling pretty good, just some minor aches and a little
sleepy, so in 20 minutes I'll be in beautiful Granada! Check back in
soon, with the smaller towns, I might have more time to catch up and
write. Until then, hasta luego!

Before
I start this next blog, I just want everyone to know that I'm feeling
much better and that I'm continuing my journey today to Granada
(albeit a day late) since my 48 hour waiting period has expired.
With that said, let's get started...

Thursday
morning, I woke up at 6 a.m. with
some of the most intense pain I've ever had. I mean, it was enough
to wake me up (and then keep me awake as I tossed and turned for the
next 2 hours). The pain radiated from my lower abdomen, so I knew
it wasn't a stomach-related thing like food poisoning. It also
didn't seem like just
gas. Then, I started to notice that my lower-right side hurt the
most as the pain intensified, leading me to believe it might be
appendicitis.
Oh crap! Traveling alone is one thing, but having a serious medical
issue while abroad? Talk about anxiety.

At
8 a.m. I stumbled out of bed, which was when I was supposed to get
ready for the train to Toledo with Sarah. Instead, I plowed through
the hall looking for the boy Marco who works the night shift. He
speaks no English and his Spanish is a little rough, so I didn't have
much luck explaining that I needed to go to the hospital. Thank God
Luciano walked in for the morning shift! I immediately talked to him
(apparently he used to be a medic
in the military) and he agreed that I should go to the hospital.
André was also super concerned and offered to skip his trip to Ávila
to escort me down to the hospital. Sarah also chimed in, altering
her train plans to come over to help. I must say, I am so thankful
to Luciano, André, Sarah and the entire hostel community. It's a
great bunch of people and they are so helpful. I don't know how
I'll ever be able to repay you.

Without
waiting, André and I hopped into a cab before Sarah could get there
and sped off to the hospital. As we wove through traffic, the pain
increased and I was bent over crying while André patted me on the
back. Finally, we made it to the hospital, which Luciano mentioned
was good for English-speakers, so we ran around the building before
finally finding the ER and checked in. Rapid-firing some Spanish,
André quickly got me checked in with my medical insurance and into
the diagnosing
doctor. I'm so thankful he could translate, it made things that much
more bearable, even
if they did know a little English.

Struggling
into the doctor's office, I explained
my condition with the help of André and she proceeded
to ask a detailed set of questions to diagnose me. Funny thing was,
sitting on the examining table made me feel better. Luckily, the doc
said the fact that I was doubled over in pain (at this point my hands
went numb from pain) was a sign that it wasn't my appendix, since I
wouldn't be able to lean over like I did. At this point, a nurse
rushed in asking if I had an 'hermana' (sister) who was looking for
me. After being confused for a moment, I smiled probably for the
first time that day, explaining that my friend Sarah was looking for
me. Evidently she was tearing through the floors trying to hunt me
down. God bless you, Sarah.

Some
more waiting and going through an endless array of rooms with tons of
doctors (or maybe residents, it was a university hospital...) and I
had an x-ray, blood test and urine test done. Not too shabby, I'm
glad to see that national healthcare works well at least in some
countries (U.S., you need to really kick it into gear). I also had
to sit in a room full of people 30+ years older than me and receive a
IV drip of pain meds to help me; that was a little bit awkward lol.

Meanwhile,
André and Sarah hung in the waiting room chatting about anything and
everything. I joined in after an hour or so, waiting for the blood
test results, which took two hours. Evidently, Sarah was eyeing a
particularly attractive intern walking around while André had his
eye on my diagnostic
doctor. I laughed and told him that he was really missing out, since
the back rooms were full of 20-something year old female interns. We
joked and laughed (apparently my meds worked) and talked way too
loudly for the waiting room, but it was a good time.

Finally,
I was given the results in the early afternoon. The doctor said I
most likely had a kidney stone, which Sarah agreed with. I've never
had one, but I guess that's what I get for not drinking enough water
and eating bad foods including too much sugar. The less likely issue
was some minor infection, which showed as a single elevated level in
my blood. However, since that could also be from the pain earlier,
she told me to get the
European equivalent
to Tylenol, eat light and monitor myself in Madrid in 48 hours. I
was a little down on that, but I said okay and we went our way.

We
almost walked out of there without paying, but going back, they gave
me the forms and numbers I needed to get my insurance to pay (which I
still need to do haha) and we headed outta there without paying a
cent, at least for now. We'll see what Anthem Blue Cross has to say
about international emergencies :-)

Afterwords,
I was still in some minor pain (the meds began to wear off), but now
we were all starved more than anything. We
found our way over to a nice sit-down place to order menú
del día
(menu of the day, BEST deal for lunch in Spain).
André had mine modified to rice/chicken while he got the typical: 2
plates, a dessert, a drink and a coffee. Gotta love it for €10!
Sarah grabbed herself a slice of cake but...oh man, our waiter.
This guy was as tall as they come and he mumbled his Spanish so much
that even André had a hard time understanding.
We all just figured he might be drunk. He gave Sarah a hard time
for our money though haha. He kept rearranging her silverware every
time
she moved something (she's as
OCD as me) which we all laughed at. Oh, and after her first slice of
cake, he said something that I told Sarah sounded like “second
piece of cake” that she had said yes to and wouldn't you know it?
She got more cake! I couldn't help, so André had to chime in and
take a cut, since the guy would not let Sarah get rid of it no matter
how politely
she asked. In the end, we had a great experience and we underpaid,
so all-in-all a good meal.

Back
at the hostel, Luciano thankfully booked me one more night (though
the next night I'd need to find a place), so I went into my room to
settle things out. I told Sarah to head to Toledo and I might see
her the next day on a trip if I was feeling well. André would
monitor me overnight and then head to Barcelona. I shuffled all my
hostels and trains to fix my itinerary, even grabbing a hotel for
Friday night just for a change of pace. I called my parents and
Sandy just to
clue
everybody in...well like I said, the insurance company still doesn't
know, but soon lol.

André
and I settled for a nap, and soon after Leo, our new roomie, arrived.
At this point, I was feeling more pain, but it was more of a food
poisoning-type of pain. Leo turned out to be another great guy,
offering to take care of me when André left if anything came up. He
was from New York, and he was an encyclopedia
of travel and money-saving
knowledge. It was amazing!

Together,
we hitMercado
de San
Miguel
again since every other place was still dead in Latina and had a good
time grabbing tapas. I settled for crackers and water while
Leo and André had their fill. We even met a nice couple from
Virginia at one of the bars and shared stories over tapas. With Leo
egging first me and then the couple on, we even got characters of
ourselves drawn lol. Hopefully that paper survives the rest of the
trip.

With
André and Leo staying out to try and find a party, I took myself
back to the hostel to rest up. I had been in the ER all day and
running on 2 hours of sleep, so I really needed to get to bed. I
washed up, watched a TV show on my laptop and passed out at midnight,
sleeping for 10 hours. I did have a fever scare around 3 a.m. right
after Leo and André got back, but a wet towel on my forehead (thanks
Leo) and taking off all the major blankets solved that.

By
morning, I was feeling well enough (only slight pain and no fever) to
daytrip with Leo to Toledo, which is up next...

Well
hey there, blog readers! I've
been
leaving you in the dark for a couple days, that'll happen on a trip
like this. I'm on a 4 hour train to Granada from Madrid this morning
(finally...more later), so I have some time to sit down and compile
all the happenings from Madrid over the past several days.

Now
where did we leave
off? Oh yea, last you heard, I was inbound to Madrid on a 8:30 a.m.
train...man, that was a long day. I guess the choice to party til
2-3 a.m. was not the smartest idea lol, but whatever, it happens when
doing the hostel thing. So yea, Umayr and I parted ways and I
arrived in Madrid around 11 a.m., lugging my backpack through the
busy Metro and street of Gran Vía
to my hostel. This time, my place was up on the seventh floor of a
high rise, with a layout that reminded me of Ars Hostel back in
Krakow. No common room again, but maybe that's what I get for going
with these smaller hostels. The place also seemed deserted, which
was a bit eerie.
Anywho, Luciano, the host, was nice enough to give me directions and
take my bags since I couldn't check in. So off I went with a few
hours sleep!

First
up, Puerta del Sol, which I got seriously lost finding following the
diagonal streets of Madrid. Amazing, being the navigator that I am
and since this plaza is the center of Madrid. Well I made it,
finding a giant golden Christmas tree, a few walking cartoon
characters (Mickey Mouse, Bart Simpson, Papa Smurf, etc...) and a
pile of tourists. Ok, next stop: Plaza Mayor. Just down the street,
I easily found the square plaza with identical buildings on all
sides. Again, not much to see other than some guys trying to sell
tiny helicopters
like those I saw in Paris and a whole mess of elementary school kids
on a field trip.

Actually,
I ended up following the same group of kids by accident to my next
stop, the Royal
Palace.
It was an absolutely beautiful site, though it's too bad that they
actually enforce the no photos rule (even without a flash). The
armory was my favorite, with tons of suits of armor for men as well
as horses, not to mention all the different swords and other weapons.
The royal chambers were beautiful of course, full of all sorts of
colors and fabrics.

A
short
lunch, then over to the biggest Spanish flag in Madrid (courtesy of
Nikki's friend Javier) over in Plaza
de Colón
and on to the Prado for the free time after 4:00 p.m. I got there at
3:30 p.m. To find that it was the anniversary of the Prado, so the
whole day had been free admission! That's okay, 2 ½ hours was more
than enough time for me in the museum, sleepy as I was, but still it
was very impressive. I especially loved
to watch the people painting the reproductions next to famous
paintings.

Back
to the hostel in the early evening, and only 6 people total in the
hostel! That's what off-season and weekdays bring to the hostel
world. There was only one person in my 4 bed room, but he wasn't
back yet (turns out he was in Toledo for the day), so I just relaxed
for a bit, making some calls back home. And wouldn't you know it?
Sarah showed up!

Okay,
so Sarah was supposed to come with me in the morning on the train to
Madrid. However, when she didn't show up in the hostel lobby at 6:30
a.m., we left without her. Turns out, after being out for the same
rough night (including banging her head on the ground and maybe
getting a concussion), she awoke at 5:00 a.m. to
her roommate Matt (there were 3-5 Matt's in the hostel, I forget)
telling her that their other roommate Sam, a Brit who just came that
day, had peed all over the floor, wall AND out of the window. Out
the window, really? That must've taken some skill in that Barcelona
hostel. Either way, they had to get
up
and move their stuff into one of the other rooms and alert the hostel
(apparently the maid got seriously pissed; I wouldn't blame her).
After the whole fiasco, Sarah
went back to sleep and missed our train, then spent the morning in
the hostel with Iva just trying to get her bearings. In the end, she
got on a later train for Madrid and met me that night at my hostel.
Yay!

We
ventured out on the chilly streets of Madrid, wandering around
talking about everything possible, getting lost and having endless
people
offer us tickets to shows and free drink cards. For dinner, we ended
up at the Mercado
de San
Miguel,
which came recommended by my dad and the hostel. It was awesome,
just the tapas experience
I was looking
for! The place was packed with people scrambling for bite-size meals
at every counter, often only costing €1
each. We had our fill, including some sangria from a nice guy who
let us even take a picture of us pouring it! It might've been a
little more, but his unique mix (so he says) tastes much better,
definitely stronger than the sugary versions I had in Barcelona.

We
walked and talked a bit more, finishing
up at a bakery to
round
out the night. We parted, planning to meet the next day for
sightseeing. Back at the hostel, nobody was still around, so I
cleaned up and went to bed. André, my Brazilian
roomie, ended up waking me up at 2:00 a.m., but other than that I
just passed out.

I
blinked awake at 10:00 a.m., realizing I missed my alarm to call
Sandy (so sorry!) and meet up with Sarah. Rushing through a quick
hostel breakfast, I reached Sarah and we met at Puerta del Sol to
start our tour. First up, Parque
del Retiro
to stroll through the palaces and to see the various statues in this
huge park. We then ended up wandering all over the neighborhoods
looking for food, ending up first at Dunkin'
Coffee (not donuts, guess that's not a European word) for my coffee
and later at Wok
to Walk for
a quick lunch of noodles.

At
this point, we split up, Sarah heading to the Prado while I toured
the Reina Sofía
for a couple hours.
I have to say, while
the Prado is the pride of the Madrid art museums, this one was my
favorite, and not just because I could take pictures. Modern is more
my style and that's what the Reina Sofía
has. The building is HUGE; its four floors used to be an old
hospital. Picasso's Guernica
is
amazing; I'm just sad I couldn't take a picture.

Back
to Starbucks, Sarah and I met up and went on to tour the outside of
the palace, the surrounding gardens and we walked to the bridge
spanning the nearby river. Finally, we
ended up at Príncipe
Pío,
an
old train station turned shopping mall. We decided to call it and
head back for dinner, so we grabbed the Metro and went to our
hostels. There was STILL nobody home at mine; I had no idea where
André was, so Sarah and I met up for tapas, combing La
Latina district, which I had heard had pretty good tapas. Sad to
say, but on cold weekdays during off-season,
most of the restaurants were closed or empty. We ended up at an
Indian restaurant across from Sarah's hostel which looked good. This
whole time, we talked about the anxiety
of solo travel. Evidently, Sarah's hostel was also empty. The
loneliness is just something that you have to learn to deal with on
a
long a trip; I wish I was a little better at it, but it takes
practice.

At
this point, I also decided to take an earlier train to Toledo along
with Sarah, since I was done with Madrid. I truly feel like
Barcelona is more interesting. There's nothing wrong with Madrid;
it's a nice, clean city with several great attractions and
neighborhoods. I'd just say that if you have to choose between
spending 2-3 days here vs. 2-3 in Barcelona, Barcelona deserves 3
while Madrid deserves 2. I changed my train ticket (thank God for my
Renfe Spain Pass) while chatting with André once I got back to the
hostel. As usual, it got way too late and I ran out of time to do
anything else (like write hehe) so I decided to just go to sleep.

Man,
what a difference one day can make. After the dip in sightseeing
Sunday, Monday was quite the whirlwind, full of Gaudi, taxi rides and
laughs.

Determined
to start off on the different foot, Umayr, Iva, Sarah and I dragged
ourselves out of bed to hit the Sagrada Familia at 10 a.m. (with
tickets this time, mind you). All I can say is...wow. You know, it
might take until 2026 to finish the church, but already you can see
how amazing it is on the inside. It's really weird to think of the
church as “new” in terms of European churches (just go to any
other town and check out their cathedral). I mean, sure it's over
100 years old now, but as Umayr said, it will still look new in 100
years. That said, Gaudi's made quite the masterpiece (which Spain is
trying to finish), but I was surprised at how simple and elegant the
inside was compared to the detailed exterior. It was interesting to
read about how nature weaves into Gaudi's work, a note from my
architecture history course back at Poly. Oh, and Blake (+ all my
other architect friends), I can bet you're a bit jealous right now
hehe :-P

The
rain still was hanging
around, complete with a giant downpour while we were at Sagrada
Famila. Apparently, Gaudi didn't design gutters and drainage
systems, since
the water from the roof poured right down in a flood
on
top of the incoming tourists. Take that all you non-believers!

Next
up, Starbucks of course! It's amazing that
I've
been off coffee since leaving Portland, but Monday required it.
Umayr and I
debated
what to order, since a drip coffee doesn't really exist, an Americano
is sort of like a drip and Iva says don't even bother with the
mochas. A little bit of an ugly American thing, I know, but hey, we
all have our staples that make us comfortable. I'm starting to get
better at my Spanish, which I'm glad to see is coming back quickly
after taking 7 years. I even got to get my name ('Mateo') on my cup.
I have to watch it though, as sometimes I am too good at my Spanish
that people start rapid-firing it back at me that I have to stumble
and say “Hablo Ingles, por favor!” lol.

It
was nice to get out
of
the rain and warm up with some coffee and have a chat while the rain
died down. The four of us grabbed a cab to Park Guell, which was
quite cozy (meaning I was squashed in the middle), but at least it
was clean and cheap. There isn't really a Metro to the park other
than one that drops you off at the bottom of the big hill to the
park, and believe me, when you're walking 10s of miles a day, you
pick your battles my friends. Even the bus from the hostel to the
park would've cost more. A cab with four of us cost €1-2 per
person; can't beat that!

Park
Guell was just...I mean, you just gotta see it. The tiles are
absolutely amazing; you can go macro-crazy with your camera if you
want. We meandered through the park, taking photos like crazy. I
even got to make use of my panorama mode on my phone (which is on my
new camera now too; more on that later). Unfortunately, the rain
hunted us down, but we were underneath the Gaudi columns when the
second downpour of the day started. Even the pigeons ran for cover,
latching on to the slanting stone wall underneath the columns. It
was pretty entertaining watching them try to hold on. The rain was
so sudden, the water flooded out from the top platform and washed
down the famous tile steps past the lizard statue. Now, I don't know
if Gaudi planned to have a muddy waterfall down his masterpiece
when it rained, but seriously man, drainage again
lol.

Fighting
a
slightly
broken umbrella (all of
our
umbrellas were
now in different stages of disrepair), we hailed a taxi down to El
Born for lunch tapas! One thing that's hard to get used to in Spain
is the eat/sleep schedule; lunch at 2 p.m., dinner at 10 p.m. and
clubbing past midnight. Well, at 3 p.m., we were right on rime for
lunch for once. We had a plethora of dishes, from cheese to croquets
to Spanish sausage. And, nobody really spoke English and it had a
crowd, always a good sign. I'm still on the hunt for those free €1
tapas, but I'll wait for Madrid. Tapas are fun to share, it sort of
makes me think of a Spanish dim
sum
when you sit down. Of course, the shouting at a bar with napkins all
over the floor is the ultimate tapa experience, and that's what I'm
hunting down next.

Per
Iva's request, we immediately headed across the street to the Museu
de la Xocolata.
The coolest part was that actual ticket was a candy bar! Heck, it
seemed like almost everything in there was made of chocolate (except
the walls, we checked). That, and the liquid chocolate
(thicker/richer than hot chocolate) was really good. Well, other
than giving Sarah an EXTREME sugar high; shes crazy enough without it
lol (sorry Sarah, you really are).

Right
then and there, my camera shutter jammed AGAIN. Argh! Well, when
traveling, treat everything as an experience, right? That experience
gave us the idea to wander El Born, checking all the cool shops along
the way for cameras and other swag, winding back up on Las
Ramblas. We made it back to La Boqueria and showed the girls the
fish skin Umayr had tried. Sarah even spontaneously jumped on a guys
dolly after he finished moving some boxes (sugar
high lol).
Everybody around us had a good laugh. Next up, El
Corte Inglés,
the biggest department store in Barcelona and my prime target for a
camera. The place on Plaça
de Catalunya
was HUGE; 10 stories of everything you can think of.
I made a beeline for cameras on the 7th
floor, finding a wide array of electronics that even makes Frys seem
tame. After debating models and talking to the salesman (thank God I
know some Spanish), I got a super-compact Panasonic (I missed my old
Panasonic, and I've had no luck with my Sonys). And it was only
about $150 with the SD card; not too shabby for a purchase I was not
expecting.
It's even a cool dark blue color (though the box says violet lol,
oops)

After
doing a little more window shopping, we made it back to the hostel to
crash for a bit. All day on your feet will tire you out, but at
least we accomplished a ton more than Sunday. I immediately started
to charge my new camera, digging through the instructions in every
language but English to set it up. Luckily, the guy behind the
hostel desk was from Brazil, so he translated the Portuguese
instructions we found. Gotta love meeting international friends!

I
guess it really is off-season, as the hostel was now only ¼ full,
which for this small hostel was 10 people. The entire
kitchen/common-area held the entire population of the hostel! We all
sat, ate a Brazilian
meal of rice and beans. Umayr was super proud to have found and
bought €1.95
bottles of wine, which we passed around as well. Gotta love it when
alcohol costs way less than the food haha. And, it was actually
decent stuff.

We
played cards, chatted, laughed, had a good time for a rainy night. I
journaled, planned Madrid and even got all my Barcelona pics edited
and up (enjoy!). Although we were beat, Umayr and I planned to leave
at 6:30am to catch our trains while Sarah figured she'd get a ticket
for my train, since she was also heading to Madrid. We ran upstairs
to pack so we didn't bother Iva too much in the morning since all of
us were heading to...wait for it...

Nasty
Monday. A great name for Barcelona's biggest club party on a Monday
night. We all strolled down a few blocks to the club (Sarah falling
and almost getting a concussion after trying to jump on Mike's back
for a piggyback ride) and our
hostel host
got us in with a free drink. I'll be honest, we were getting up at
6:30 a.m. And we got to the club at 12:30 a.m. So yea...either we
stayed for a bit or stayed up all night. Umayr and I went with the
latter, preferring
at least a little sleep. What made it easier was that the scene was
predominantly rock music, which isn't my dance scene. They had some
EDM (of which Umayr's also a fan), but that floor was kinda dead. So
by 2 a.m., the two of us left, leaving Sarah with Mike and the other
hostellers (who were apparently going after a pack of Swedish girls
lol, have at it guys!) and we headed back.

We
crashed, though not before I had another freezing cold shower (why!).
I tossed and turned, forgetting my earplugs, but I figured I wasn't
getting much sleep anyways. Tuesday
morning,
Umayr and I got up and headed out
just before 7:30 a.m. to
catch our 8:30 a.m. Trains. Unfortunately, Sarah came in later and
wasn't up when we were leaving, though we did leave a bit
earlier...but
she found me in Madrid later so it's cool :-)

I
wrote most of this
sitting on the AVE high speed train, whose 200-300kph blows MAX and
Amtrak totally out of the water lol. Madrid's
been a blur and I'm heading to Toledo in the morning, so time to get
to sleep!

...oh and I forgot a few sections on Barcelona, so those will be in the next one too...

Guess
I should update ya, huh? Well, so far so good. Pictures
up soon btdubs, I'm a little behind haha. Compared to last
time, the plane was breeze...no canceled flights or lost days on this
trip! Although, the whole "remote gate" thing at my
Amsterdam layover was a bit weird. With all the fog, they stuck
our plane way out in the middle of nowhere (Schiphol is huge!)
and bused us in. No sweat, we were back in the building and
through customs in no time. And on the way, I hung with my
plane buddy Betsy, who was on her way to Zurich to work for her
professor from UC Davis, along with James and a bunch of
sustainability guys going to an EV conference in Barcelona. If
I get a chance, I just might stop by.

Barcelona
brought rain...and it's been nothing but since. I have to say,
coming from the PNW to land in rain and 50 degree weather, not my
favorite. But, you gotta make do with what you got, and so far
it's been a blast. I'm so thankful for Umayr, Iva, Sarah and
all my other hostel mates...you guys are awesome!
The first day, fresh off the plane and 9 hours jet
lagged
(with no sleep either), I found my friendly hostel in the
Raval neighborhood after wandering up a few shady streets,
toting me huge ass backpack and daypack through the airport and train
station. Oh! If
you're an Android user, you have to try MapsWithMe,
it does an awesome job with offline maps...just be sure to download
the 270MB file for your country BEFORE the plane ride
lol. Though I don't recommend holding your phone out in public
in Barcelona, it was a lifesaver for finding the hostel.

So I
checked in, got my tour info, and immediately bumped into Umayr, who
checked in right behind me. He was fresh in from Toronto and I
just got in from the US. What do we do? Hit the town,
son! I mean sure, I didn't have sleep, but after my marathon of
not sleeping 4 days last time in Europe, I figured I'd just keep
pushing til I was dead. And man I gotta say...I really can push
the limit hehe.

First
up, we got lost in the Old City, scrambling around the winding,
narrow streets of Barcelona. The rain did put a little bit of a
damper on walking around, but hey, I'm from Portland, I'm used to
this by now, right? We hustled our way over to Las Ramblas,
tourist central in Barcelona, wandering through the crowds down
towards the water. We popped into La Boqueria, the market at
the center of the street, checking out the piles of candy, fish,
tapas, fruit and other scents that filled the air. Oh man,
Umayr, I'm sorry that the snack you grabbed turned out to be fried
fish skin...but it was pretty hilarious hehe. The kiwi/coconut
drink I grabbed though, very refreshing.

Next
up, we segued into the Barri Gotic, strolled passed Catedral, grabbed
a couple chocolate-covered xurros (6 for €2!) and
meandered right into the Museu Picasso. We kind of walked
straight pass the security guard to use the bathroom in the museum
(hey, it's an open-air museum, not my fault)...but we were good boys
and bought tix, since it turns out we would've needed them right
after the bathroom anyways haha.

With
the rain (and now wind) as it was, the two of us ended up walking
into the Santa Maria del Mar, which is an absolutely beautiful church
at night, and we ran right into a free classical concert. It
was very pretty, especially with the church as it was. Our
march forward continued on along with the intensity of the
rain and wind, leading us through El Born and towards the beach and
La Barceloneta. Not much to see of the beach with the pouring rain,
so we checked out and grabbed a Metro back.

Now,
I'm always stressed about getting on to a decent sleep schedule while
traveling. Not getting sleep...just some sort of sleep (don't
joke, nobody really gets much sleep in hostels haha). This
time, I think I nailed down the secret formula. It came by way
of a meal among new hostel friends, a bottle of wine, and a pub crawl
with some absinthe and mojitos. Natalia, you rocked
at showing us around to a few cool bars and club in the city...I just
wished I could've stayed until 5am! I'm always up for talking
with a fellow Pole over drinks with new buddies :-)

Back
at 3 a.m., out in 30 minutes BAM! That's how you beat jetlag
lol...well, that and maybe the ridiculously cold shower at
3 along with it...damn boiler. Didn't feel shabby in the
morning either, other than I set my alarm to PM instead of AM...oops.
Umayr, Iva and I got up and going by 11 a.m. (a little late,
but hey it's vacation) and made an attempt (key word, attempt) at
some Gaudi sites.

First
up, the Exiample and Casa Batlló for a few pics. I somehow
jammed the shutter on my camera and had an "OMG OMG OMG!"
moment, so I switched to my phone. I mean, it is the beginning
of the trip, but replacing a camera on the most expensive street in
Barcelona? No thanks. Luckily, we made it to Casa
Milà (just up the street), snapped a few pics and went for
coffee, and the damn thing decided to wake up...thank you, stupid
camera, hope you live for two more weeks!

So
that brings me to...(drum roll, maybe?)

Strike
#1: Casa Milà's roof terrace was closed for rain

There
was like NO rain, but it was a safety thing. Fine, we're
positive people, so we just headed 10 blocks west to Sagrada Familia,
THE thing to see in BCN. We didn't have tickets, and lines can
suck, but it didn't seem like a big problem off-season. Well
the line stretched all around the side, past the Metro stop (which
conveniently dumps you right off in the Sagrada queue lol) and on and
on. When we when to get in line, it turns out that...

Strike
#2: Sagrada Familia was closing for mass at 2 p.m.

Damn!
So close to doing something! Okay, okay, we grabbed a
quick lunch (got a great jamón
sandwich
at a little cafe) and jumped on the Metro to Montjuïc to
take a stroll up to the Museo Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and...

Strike
#3: The museum closed at 3 p.m.

A bit
defeated, the three of us trekked back through the neighborhoods to
the hostel for a pit stop. I gotta say, the rain definitely
doesn't help with Sunday schedules (and the late start lol). Right
then, we made a vow to hit Sagrada (with tickets) and Park Guell
first thing tomorrow! With that, we cleaned up and met up with
Sarah, who's from friggin' Detroit! (Inkster, actually). Not to
mention my new roomie is from Troy...so weird. Anywho, the four
of us trekked back into the rain, since it was only 6...I mean,
that's like the dead time in Spain, with dinner starting at 10 p.m.
We made it back to Barceloneta on the bus, laughing all the
way. Apparently, dirty jokes are a common denominator amongst
international friends, along with comedy. I'm glad I'm
well-versed in both :-)

Mr.
Rain came back with a vengeance but we slid into an
awesome Argentinian restaurant (around 8 p.m., still too early for
dinner, but I'm still trying to figure this out). Lots of
sangria and some filling food made the cool, chilly stroll back to
the Metro all the better.

Oh,
and then there was "Larry" to round out the evening. So,
the four of us get on the Metro and a few stops in, a random guy (who
we all now call Larry) got on the train. Now, they say that you
have to watch yourself on Metro, but as Umayr said, if this guy was a
thief, he was REALLY bad. Not to mention all four of us had
trained ourselves to be uber-aware in Barcelona, since that's what
everybody says. So...guy gets on the train, right between
Umayr + Me and Iva + Sarah. We're standing at these
like standing pads/chairs and this guy is leaning right on the
door...even though there was space all over the train car. A
stop later, he comes and stands right on top of me (still space all
over the place btw) and puts his one arm across my face and
reaches for one of the handrails. Now I'm like, okay, he
obviously wants to yank my camera or wallet, staring off casually in
one direction. I proceed to turn my head and stare past him in
the opposite direction, looking right at the transit map, watching
him from the corner of my eye. At this point, what does he do
with his other hand? Uh, he sticks it down his pants?
Hmm...ok. I just sat there and stared. A moment
later, he moves a bit away, and I feel relieved after checking my
pockets. A minute later we get off to transfer, and Sarah
breaks out laughing, along with Umayr, for what seems like no reason.

Well,
turns out that everyone in our group watched my stare-down and
the hand-in-the-pants thing with Larry go down, which I gotta admit
must have looked hilarious. That, and he followed us to the
transfer! Needless to say, he went home empty handed, with
the stare-down from 3 Americans and a Canadian. It
was like having my own Metro posse, very cool haha. Oh, we also
go heckled by a guy making random remarks in English (it's amazing
what people think of Americans), but after we figured out he had
started talking gibberish and his girlfriend was holding a
conversation with her umbrella, we decided to let them enjoy there
trip and waited for them to get off the train. Public transit,
gotta love it!

Back
to the hostel, a few treats bought from the snack shop and some good
stories made it a nice, chill night...AND I found enough time to even
write :-) I have to say, so far, the weather's not cooperating,
but you gotta work with what you got. I'm so happy for my
little umbrella and extra layers...I was totally NOT
expecting this with the forecast. I'm hoping for warmer weather
*fingers crossed* on future parts of the journey, but even so, it's
still an awesome time, and the hostel culture is so nice to have at
times like this. To come "home" and have people to
just chat with, share photos, crack jokes and have a drink is so much
nicer than staying alone in a hotel. As always, hosteling is
the way to travel solo for sure. Soooooo many people, it's
great!

Well,
off to bed and Sagrada early in the morning, I'll keep on posting and
getting more clever as I get some sleep lol, have a pleasant
evening/afternoon all yous US people and we'll chat soon. Oh,
and I'll have the lowdown on tapas as soon as I can get a clear night
to go hopping around.